I’m a writer at heart, so enjoying speaking at conferences is a bit of a surprise for me.

Speaking at LeadDev StaffPlus went even better than I was hoping, and it’s got me thinking about what works for me as a speaker.

This was a bigger audience than when I spoke at Enterprise Technology Leadership Summit in 2024, and I actually felt more comfortable.

I had some signs while I was speaking that the talk was landing, like a gasp from the audience when I revealed a surprise. And I got kind comments and great questions from people who approached me afterwards.

I know the cheerleading from the conference organizers and my fellow presenters helped. Such a supportive group!

I’m also starting to settle on an approach to speaking that works for me as a writer.

What to speak about

Deciding what to speak about is the first hard part. For me, it’s about identifying a story from my life that illustrates a point relevant to my audience.

Let me break that down:

• A story – there are great presentations that don’t involve storytelling, but putting the story front and center helps me connect with the audience.
• From my life – if I’m talking about my own experience, it’s easier for me to remember the details. And nobody in the audience will challenge me on the facts!
• Illustrates a point – yes, but the point I wind up making may not be the point I originally planned. The process of crafting the talk often leads me to a new place.
• Relevant to my audience – I’ve got plenty of stories, but not all of them are meaningful for that audience and context.

From there, I’ll start either with the end of the story or with the moment of transition.

Where do I want to end up?

If I start with the end, I have a few considerations:

What’s the main takeaway?

In the case of my LeadDev talk, I wanted people to have a sense of when a conflict might not be theirs to resolve and when it might be time to focus on something else.

How do I want them to feel after the talk?

I like my audience to feel seen. I want them to feel like the talk went to a deeper place than they might have been expecting.

That was especially true on the StaffPlus stage, because I was third on the program. I wanted to help create a sense of “this conference isn’t esoteric, it is relevant to me.”

Moment of transition

Stories are best, I think, when the storyteller emerges changed by the experience. Something like “this happened and now I see things differently” beats “this happened but otherwise everything’s still the same.”

The moment where things change is a great place to deep dive for a few seconds to make the moment more vivid. Add detail. Slow down a bit to let that moment play out. Bring the audience along for the transition.

When I got to this moment for LeadDev, I just let myself go off script and relive a little of the emotion. I let there be some unfinished sentences.

Where to start the story?

This is a Matthew Dicks storytelling tip: the story starts with the opposite of where it ends.

My story at StaffPlus ends with my realizing that the conflict I was describing was not mine to handle. Therefore, it starts in a moment where I was determined that I was going to handle it.

The first few lines (and the last few) are the only sentences I outright memorize. This is a Moth Radio Hour storytelling tip from their book How to Tell a Story.

I want my opening section to do several things:

• Start strong. No “so” at the beginning.
• Acknowledge my welcome. “Thank you” is good.
• Get the attention of the audience. More on a “hook” shortly.
• Introduce myself. Specifically, why should the audience listen to me. Quick recap of my credentials.
• Bring people into a moment, with some details.
• Introduce the stakes. Why should anyone care about this story?

Hook?

I heard a Rory Vaden podcast recently where he explores what a “hook” is.

People say you should do three things during a talk:

• Tell people what you’re about to tell them
• Tell them
• Tell them what you just told them

I’ve also heard this called bad advice, and it might be, if you’re interpreting this as just repeating yourself three times. That’s not how I interpret it.

At the top of this section, I told you what I was about to tell you (“what a ‘hook’ is.”) I haven’t actually said what a hook is yet. I just told you what to expect from this section.

And that is the hook: it’s the first “tell people what you’re about to tell them.” You aren’t giving all the info away the first time. You’re just letting people know the plan.

I did this in my talk right here:

Then you can execute the plan (“tell them”) and at the end, recap the takeaways (“tell them what you just told them”).

Once I saw how “tell them what you’re about to tell them” can be the hook, I can’t unsee it.

A map, and no notes

Once I know where I’m starting, my transition, and where I’m ending, I have a map of sorts for how I want to get there. What points do I want to visit along the way?

I don’t bother with speaker notes, for the most part.

• I’ve got my opening line and closing line memorized.
• I know my story path to get from A to B to C.
• I’ve practiced enough to have learned some key phrases I will pull out along the way.
• I don’t want it to sound like I’m reading. So I don’t read.

I practice to find out where I get lost. I also sneak clues into my slides to make sure I always know what’s next.

For example: I had several slides in a row with multiple bullet points. I needed to know when I was on the last bullet point, so that I could change my intonation to match. But the number of bullets varied from slide to slide. Solution: the last bullet on each slide starts with “and.”

The only speaker note I had at LeadDev was on one of the last slides: “If you have at least 2 minutes remaining, you’re on time.” It’s an early warning if I’m running over, and it lets me relax if I am on time.

Slides

I try to put as little text as possible on the slides. Text should be close to what I’m saying, but not necessarily exactly (I don’t want to read my slides to the audience). Text should reinforce key points.

I do a lot of animation, mostly making bullet points appear as I talk. Ideally, they appear just after I’ve said them.

I don’t want my audience reading ahead, so I don’t give them any way to do that. I want them curious and listening to me.

But it’s also good for them to have some info on the screen in case they space out for a moment. Notes let them get caught up.

This time, I also discovered the joy of the “replay” animation for drawing. I drew an org chart and then drew some annotations… The end result looked like this:

Closing

The closing section has several jobs:

• End strong. No “anyway, so… that’s all I have, I guess…”
• Recap the takeaway(s)
• Call to action. What do I want them to do? At LeadDev, it was “find me here, and find me on beyond writing code dot com.”
• Another thank you. Gratitude’s nice. It also lets the audience know the talk is over.

I used to put the “thank you” at the top of my last slide. Now I don’t, because I don’t want to signal that I’m done until I’ve said everything.

You might be able to get away without a signal that you’re done if you have a really strong and decisive ending, and you slow down a lot to deliver. Maybe something like this:

“And that… is why you should never… get into a pie-eating contest… with the Dalai Lama.”

Rehearsing

I practice standing up, out loud, with a “clicker” in my hand to advance the slides.

I listen for where I forget what’s next, where I stumble over the words, and where I get sidetracked. Places where I say “and—” only to switch slides and discover that the next slide needs a “but,” not an “and.”

After I rehearse, I think: what were the best moments of this talk as it stands now? Get rid of other moments as much as possible. Keep only those that are required to tell the story.

I make notes of any phrasing I like, and then I’ll try to rehearse using that phrasing.

Rehearsing for an audience is useful, even better if they can give me feedback about what was strong, what wasn’t, and how I can improve.

Presentation time

I did some walking shortly before I was due on stage. That helped me burn some excess nervous energy.

I gave myself a few presentation-time reminders:

• Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. If I rush, I mess up, and messing up makes me slower.
• Breathe. I practiced this while rehearsing, and noticed the difference it made.
• Look out at people.
• Don’t get clever. No improvising, adding content, or going off script.
• Have some energy. Try to sound as if you were saying it all for the first time. Like you just now thought of it.

With this plan, I feel surprisingly comfortable on stage. Here I am, a writer enjoying speaking. Who knew?

I’ve used my writing skills to craft the story from start to finish. I have a story from my own life, so I know what I need to talk about. And I have the slides to help reinforce my points and keep me from getting stuck.

And that… is why you should never… get into a pie-eating contest… with the Dalai Lama.

Where else should I apply to speak?